'W-what? Eriol, it's me, Sakura.'
'…..Eriol?' He said, sitting up slowly.
'You- you don't remember?' Sakura was beginning to second-guess herself. It WAS Eriol, she was sure of it…..
'Not the name Eriol. Well, at least, no one referring to ME as Eriol. Well…..' He said, turning a little red in the cheeks. 'At least, not meaning to call me Eriol. Or, rather, not….. fully….. conscious when they did so….. Umm….. may I start over?'
'You're not Eriol?' Sakura questioned, very confused.
'Not to my knowledge, no.' He voiced a strange sigh, and closed his eyes, rubbing his temples with his left hand. He began muttering to himself. 'Arthur came in, then….. I fell?'
'I think you must have.' Said Sakura with concern. 'My house isn't far from here. If you think you can stand, I'll bring you there, unless you want me to get help here instead.'
'Help? Oh, no, I'm fine. Just a little….. confused. What place is this?'
Sakura gave him a strange look. 'Tomoeda.'
'Ah, I see.' He pondered a moment and rather nonchalantly said, 'And when is it?'
Sakura gave him another strange look. He was giving off a strange power that was being subdued, but it seemed familiar.
'Never you mind. I believe I can stand. Just need a tree to help me.'
Sakura moved forward and started to help him.
'No, no.' He said. 'I said the tree would help me. You just wait a moment.' He said rather defensively.
Sakura watched, still somewhat baffled, but still certain that it was Eriol. Who else could it be? She mused about what could have caused him to lose his memory for she had experience of such things; she had almost had her own memories taken at the end of the Final Judgment. Maybe some of his memories would come back if he were reminded of the people he knew.
'Alright, which way?' Eriol said to her, looking rather well. He was working on smoothing out his clothing and straightening his hair, but with no seeming avail and he left his hair alone.
'Well, it's this way…' Sakura began leading him off, out of the Tsukimine shrine. 'I got a letter from Syaoran the other day…'
Eriol didn't seem to be paying much attention. 'This is a lovely park… I feel I've been here before, or maybe I will be in the future.'
'Maybe…' Sakura replied, becoming rather lost with him. He stopped and made a sound of realization. Sakura paused and turned to look at him slowly. 'Something the matter?'
'Just that we haven't been properly introduced. Your name is Sakura, right?'
'Yes. Sakura Kinomoto.'
'Somehow a very suiting name.' He bowed politely. 'My name is Clow Reed.'
There was a silence as this took several more moments to actually register, and when at last it struck her full, she turned red. 'Really? I thought you were someone else.' She said, in a voice rather more squeaky than usual.
'That much is so, since you thought I was Eriol. Are you catching a cold in this rain?' He spoke so calmly, like it didn't matter at all. The rational part of Sakura's mind told her that that was probably because he was used to being Clow Reed, but most of her mind saw still running with the fact that this was Clow Reed… the genuine article…
Suddenly very flustered, her next words came out in a jumble. 'Itsnicetameetyou!'
'God bless you!' He said with enthusiasm, and turned back to the way out of the shrine.
Sakura took chase after taking a few more moments to recover from the initial shock. As she took over and led him down the street, she stole glances at him. He really was identical to Eriol, or rather, the other way around. She could sense the power coming from him, somehow more free than all of the other magic of Clow she had encountered; untamed, almost. She shivered as the hair on the back of her neck stood on end with the sheer power. She supposed that since he was young, he wasn't as trained as he probably was when he created the Cards and Guardians. She suspected she may appear the same way to him.
And he mentioned it, as though reading her thoughts. 'Do you realize that you're a pretty strong sorceress? Are you getting training, or is this the first you've heard of your magic?' It was a rather casual tone, giving the impression that this was something he spoke of often with strangers.
'Yes, I am…'
He laughed a little. It was just a soft chuckle to himself. 'Don't think it would be anyone I know training you.'
'Well, about that…' What was she supposed to say? She thought to herself that it may change something if he found out about the Cards, and Kero, and Yue… and knew he'd be the one to create them. Or maybe not; Sakura realized that she didn't know very much at all about time travel. It wasn't exactly a common thing. 'No, you don't.'
Not yet.
'Will I get to meet your mentor in your home?'
'Y-yes, he sort of lives with us.'
Clow replied as though this were simply ridiculous. 'He lives with you? And you are not related, right?'
'Not really… it's a unique situation, I'm starting to think.'
'No doubt. You'll have to tell me about it when I meet him. This really is an interesting place,' he added, looking around at the neighbourhood.
'You'd be surprised…' Sakura muttered, and turned towards her house.
'Oh, this is it? It's lovely.' He wandered over to the flowerbed. 'Spell components, or just decoration?'
He comes from a much different world, she thought. Not only from the past, but from a society where magic is probably used quite openly. 'They're just for decoration. You should come inside, it's raining.'
He leisurely made his way to the door, secure in the knowledge that he could not get much wetter, and followed her inside.
'Sakura, is that you?' Kero called. He floated his way into the entrance hall and stopped rather suddenly upon sight of Sakura's guest. 'Where'd you find Eriol?'
Clow smiled. 'You know, you're the second person to call me that today?' Sakura sighed a little as Kero made a puzzled face, and brought them all into the living room for a little talk.